littleredmacks's Reviews (528)

4stars 

Narrated by the author 

AMAZING AUDIOBOOK 

This book was so well done and you can feel the suffocation that the toll of incarceration and everything that comes after can take on someone, especially Black men. 

Favorite Quotes:
 

“The things that abandon you get remembered different. As precise as the English language can be, with words like penultimate and perseverate, there is not a combination of sounds that describe only that leaving.” 

 

“This is how misery sounds: my boys playing in the backseat juxtaposed against a twelve-year-old’s murder playing in my head.” 

 

“This is the brick & mortar of the America that murdered Tamir & may stalk the laughter in my backseat. I am a father driving his Black sons to school & the death of a Black boy rides shotgun & this could be a funeral procession. The death a silent thing in the air, unmentioned— because mentioning death invites taboo: if you touch my sons the blood washed away from the concrete must, at some point, belong to you, & not just to you, to the artifice of justice that is draped like a blue g-d around your shoulders, the badge that justifies the echo of the fired pistol; taboo:” 

 

 

“not when the accumulation of our yesterdays hang like the last dusk before us— each memory another haunting thing.” 

 

3.5 stars 

AMAZING PREMISE 

Greek Mythology based

Know the background before jumping in 

 

I do recommend that you read the premise on the website and know the houses and gods involved before going into it or you will be confused AF. I was so confused for a lot of it and I think there could have been a way to make things clearer. 

 

Characters are not the best developed but I wouldn’t say they fell as flat as some other books I’ve read. 

 

There were a TON of plot twists in this book and many of the characters weren't phased by any of the plot twists and it got to the point that I didn't care about them either. 

 

Be sure to read the content warnings.

Favorite Quote:

"His face was a book that had been written only for her"

 4.5 stars 

Book of poetry 

Civil rights movement 

Read by the author 

Powerful poems 

 

I felt like every poem in this collection was raw and vulnerable. 

 

This author came across the fact that Rosa Parks wasn’t the first black woman to refuse to give up her seat but we didn’t learn about her so she started doing research in an attempt to uncover the true history that America loves to cover up. 

 

The signs, everywhere you go poem was powerful to listen to. I'm not sure the impact would have been the same if I was only reading it. 

 

I heard there were pictures in the book/ebook and would have loved to see that so I'm a bit disappointed I missed out on that. 

Favorite Quotes: 

"There's no difference / between you / and i / except that you get to live / and i get to die / trying"  

 

"Ride or die/ for there are things worse than death/ like being deprived of freedom/ until your last rattling breath"

 

"But darling we’re still prisoners of the red white and blue"

 

"If I could go back I would capture the captures/ and tell my people to flee/ if I could go back I would burn down the ships/ so they never even crossed the sea" 

 

"History has become a beautiful American lie/overseers rewrite it and always deny/people have the right to know the ugly truth/ but only tell part of it/ especially to the youth"

A decent conclusion to the duology. 
It's an easy read and if you're looking for something in between as a palette cleanser, this one might be good for you. 

3.5 stars
Slow start
Semi - flat characters
Great World

Characters are kind of flat but have their 3d moments. I think with a little more depth this book could have easily been a four star read. 

It’s disappointing that it’s a stand alone because the world is so amazing. I would love to see more of it and learn more. Especially with the implication that we get for how they changed the world at the end. 

The main character reads like a naive rash teenager so if that drives you up a wall move on. 

Quick read. Despite it having that debut feel to the writing and characters not being as developed as I would have liked to see it was a fun read and I really enjoyed my time. I hope she’ll turn this into a series. 

If you’re looking for an easy stand alone with a well developed world and don’t care if the main character isn’t always the most reasonable you’ll enjoy this. 

5 stars 

Disability rep 

CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT 

Forbidden Romance w/out the creepy parts 

Grumpy/sunshine 

 

The singing in the audiobook!!!! Oh my gods. Beautiful. If you are looking to read this book, I highly recommend reading it on audiobook. 

This story is so beautiful and you can feel the passion come through the pages. The fact that we get to see the story for the movie they are working on is amazing. It tied the story together so well. 

 

Love the external pressures in their relationship and how they have to figure out how to navigate it.  

 

 

 Favorite Quotes: 

“Storytelling is sacred. Story must be protected, at all costs.” 

 

 

”Mama always said waiting for sunsets was like waiting for a miracle you knew would come,” he says, his voice graveled with the emotion in his eyes. “How happy she must be to know I finally found mine.” 

 

 

To quote Dessi, they were not only the stars. They were the night—the dark sky without which no star can shine. How brightly they shone, leaving us a legacy lit by grit and enduring grace. 

DND based 

Gay characters 

Light and fluffy 

 

I do feel it’d be better with a prequel. Like this would have made the perfect Duology. 

 

What an adorable book. The found family is too precious. My heart melted. 

Rereading for nostalgia.
This series has so many problematic things with it, I honestly don't know where to start. I don't rate books 1 star unless I DNF otherwise this would be lower. The sad thing is she had such an interesting concept that I think this could have gone places if she'd been more intentional about being diverse and not making relationships with men and children seem okay along with other problematic themes. Like the potential is there.